Memorial of the Convocation of the Colored 
 People in the Diocese of North Caro- 
 lina Presented to the Diocesan 
 Convention of 1916 
 
 To the Rt. Rev. Father in God, the Bishop of the Diocese of North 
 
 Carolina, and Brethren of the Convention in the 100th Annual 
 
 Session. 
 
 Father and Brethren in Christ: — Your Colored brethren send 
 greeting in the Lord. 
 
 The Convocation of the Colored People would most respectfully 
 invite the attention of this Convention to a consideration of the sub- 
 ject and action thereon again of the "Racial Episcopate." The Gen- 
 eral Convention of tbe Church will meet, God willing, in the city of 
 St. Louis next October. In 1913, when the Convention met in New 
 York City, after a failure to get concurrent action of the House of 
 Deputies in what the House of Bishops decided by a majority vote 
 was best for the advancement of the work among colored people, the 
 matter was placed in the hands of a Joint Commission <o report at 
 the next sitting of tbe Convention. The Commission hap. on its board 
 men who are both for and against the missionary jurisdiction plan, 
 and up to this present time it is not generally known whether or no 
 they will report favorably as viewed from the standpoint of your 
 colored brethren. We desire, therefore, to address you on this sub- 
 ject, and point out to you the real situation as looked at from our 
 side, and at the same time give such information as will show to 
 you the reasonableness of our contention. 
 
 After a half century of freedom the American Negro has proved 
 himself in the land of his adoption a necessary asset in almost every 
 walk of life. In the wonderful development of the Southland during 
 the past two or three decades, Negro labor has been a necessity. He 
 has learned to work, and that fact has aided much in quickening his 
 aspirations, thereby causing him to live alongside of his white 
 neighbor, accumulating property, educating his children, assimi- 
 lating to a large extent those elements characteristic of the better 
 class of your people; and at the same time remaining just as separate 
 and distinct in things purely social as one's fingers on his hands. 
 But, unhappily for the colored people, the Church's work among 
 them has been very meager. The little part, however exercised by 
 this Church towards evangelization of Afro-Americans has meant 
 much in directing them rightly. There are about 10,000,000 of 
 colored people, and the little efforts so far made are not at all 
 comparable to the opportunities within reach of this Church. Out 
 of this large number of colored people not more than 25,000 are 
 directly influenced by the Church's teaching. A little more than 
 50 per cent of the entire Negro population are not directly influ- 
 
enced by any organized Christian body. A large majority of Clergy 
 and laity feel that the crying need is a change of our present system, 
 thereby giving us a larger part and share in the work that means 
 for our good and uplift. Our contention is not uncatholic, as we 
 conceive the practice of the Church in its early days. To quote a 
 recent writer in the Living Church: "This plan has been faulted as 
 being contrary to Catholic polity, making jurisdiction concurrent 
 yet independent instead of territorial. Admitting the fact that in 
 the West at any rate this is an unusual thing and that the ordinary 
 normal method of extending the Episcopate is in the diocesan sys- 
 tem, we must not forget that other methods have been used and have 
 not been condemned by the Church as uncatholic. In this case we 
 have a very close analogy in the condition in many places in Apos- 
 tolic times, where large Jewish and Gentile Christian populations 
 were living side by side. In that case there was not even color to 
 aid in distinguishing one from the other, but any attempt to mix the 
 two led to disaster. There were two races living in the same terri- 
 tory, largely speaking the same language, subject to the same civil 
 authorities, yet absolutely separate in social and religious customs. 
 The Apostolic Church met the issue by committing the Gospel of the 
 Circumcision to St. Peter, and the mission to the Gentile to St. Paul. 
 There was no worry over the fact that they were working in the 
 same place at the same time." But this point needs no argument, 
 as it is generally understood that the Church may make such pro- 
 vision as will give to colored Churchmen a status. 
 
 (a) It is therefore proposed: "That the House of Bishops may 
 establish Missionary Districts upon racial lines, i. e., for a specified 
 race or races, within the bounds of Dioceses and Missionary Dis- 
 tricts, authorized in section 1, severally or in such groupings as it 
 may determine: Provided, that in case of a Diocese such racial 
 jurisdiction within the Diocesan borders shall first be ceded by the 
 Bishop and Convention of the Diocese. 
 
 "(b) In the interpretation of the Constitution and Canons, the 
 people and churches of such Racial Missionary Districts shall occupy 
 the same relation to the General Convention and have the same 
 rights of representation therein as other Domestic Missionary 
 Districts. 
 
 "(c) No such cession by a Diocese or division of a Missionary Dis- 
 trict shall carry with it the members of the ceded race who may be 
 or become members of congregations not included in such cession or 
 division. 
 
 "(d) The House of Bishops may from time to time change, in- 
 crease, or diminish the territory into which such Racial Missionary 
 District extends, in such manner as may be prescribed by canon. 
 
 "(e) Such racial jurisdiction within the bounds of a Diocese may 
 be retroceded by the House of Bishops, if the Bishop and Conven- 
 tion of such Diocese shall consent to receive it." 
 
 This plan gives to the Negroes the opportunity of true leadership 
 by the best of their own race, and at the same time will remove all 
 bitterness and apparent social friction. The Church at the same 
 time will be making it possible for a much larger influx of the 
 colored people within her fold. They remain away now largely 
 
because of the often repeated utterance: "The Episcopal Church is 
 the white man's Church, and there is no chance for us ever reaching 
 the place of leadership among our people; hence, we will remain for 
 the most part in our own churches, governed and directed by our 
 own leaders." But for us who love the Church and would rather die 
 than leave the object of our first love and devotion, we pity our own 
 flesh and blood, and are contending for their sake and for the sake 
 of generations to come that the Church make it possible for us to 
 reach more largely the rank and file of our people. 
 
 In our former memorial we laid especial stress on comparisons 
 between the several departments proposing a Missionary District 
 for the Negroes and the relative numerical strength of these de- 
 partments in communicants and Clergy. 
 
 Since that memorial was presented there has been a readjustment 
 of these departments by the Church into new divisions or provinces. 
 The former Fourth Department is now the Province of Sewanee. 
 Having 7,160 colored communicants, it lacks only 293 of being equal 
 in membership with the Province of Washington, while its 115 con- 
 gregations surpass by 45 the number of congregations in the former, 
 and the number of the Clergy, 66, more than double the Clergy, 30, in 
 the Province of Washington. 
 
 Thus it is seen that the greatest strength of the Church among 
 the colored people lies within the Province of Sewanee, and the 
 greatest number of our people live within this area, thus making 
 it an ideal territory for the establishment of a Missionary District. 
 Now, the number of colored communicants throughout the Church 
 of congregations exclusively colored is reported as 25,759; Clergy, 
 142. This is 6,661 members more than the last official Government 
 census reports, the number therein given being 19,098. 
 
 According to the census, the Protestant Episcopal Church shows 
 an increase in every way over the last census. But can we rest sat- 
 isfied with such a small membership as compared with the denomi- 
 nations? And are we not moved even to greater depths of concern 
 when we compare this small number to the great mass of Negroes 
 who are untouched by the Church? 
 
 There were 3,685,097 Negro communicants distributed throughout 
 the various denominations. Note what a small proportion this great 
 Church of ours has gathered into its fold. The Presbyterians, Bap- 
 tists, Methodists, who have Negro organizations attached, outnumber 
 us in their colored communicants, the Methodists having much the 
 largest number, 308,551, the Baptists 32,639, and the Presbyterians 
 27,799. And what has surprised us not a little, the Roman Catholic 
 Church has been steadily though quietly gaining a foothold among 
 our people until now they have a membership of 38,235, more than 
 double our number. 
 
 Perhaps the most notable circumstance in the statistics of the 
 religious bodies among the Negroes is that the greatest number of 
 communicants belong to those bodies which are exclusively Negro, 
 the total number of such members being 3,207,307. More than 
 2,000,000 of these are Baptists; 852,315 of them are Methodists, the 
 A. M. E. Church having 494,777; the A. M. E. Z. Church 184,542, and 
 the C. M. E. Church 172,996. These bodies, too, are increasing more 
 
 ^ 
 
rapidly than those that are attached organizations, holding 85.4 per 
 cent of the entire Negro organizations, 87 per cent of all members 
 being enrolled among them; they have 83.2 per cent of all the Sun- 
 day School scholars; and hold 67 per cent of all the parsonages and 
 78.9 per cent of the total value of church property. 
 
 This excellent progress is due largely to the opportunities of 
 growth and development in leadership, initiative, and self-de- 
 pendence. 
 
 We sincerely believe that like opportunities opening to our people 
 through the Missionary District plan, with a Bishop or with Bishops 
 of our own race, with representation and voice in the General Con- 
 vention, will cause a healthy growth in membership such as we have 
 not hitherto experienced. 
 
 We would not wish to lose contact entirely with the Christian 
 brotherhood of the Church. Therefore we ask that this plan be 
 adopted, so that though we may be separate members we may at 
 the same time be inseparable from the main body; while separate 
 branches we may all be united in the True Vine. 
 
 (1) We most earnestly and respectfully, then, desire that this 
 Convention reaffirm its position for Racial Missionary Bishops, 
 taken at the Convention of 1913, and urge the Commission on the 
 Racial Episcopate to report their findings to the General Convention 
 next October in favor of the adoption of our proposed legislation; 
 
 (2) That the following memorial and petition be sent to the Com- 
 mission on the Racial Episcopate from this Convention, to wit: That 
 it may please the Commission to recommend and urge upon the Gen- 
 eral Convention, to assemble in St. Louis in October of this present 
 year, that legislation be enacted (as already proposed) by that body 
 to provide that the Negroes resident within the area of the Province 
 of Sewanee, or part thereof, with their lands and properties, may be 
 constituted in a Missionary District of this Church, and a Missionary 
 Bishop of the Negro race may be elected to be the Missionary Bishop 
 thereof; 
 
 (3) And in particular do we request that this Convention will 
 pursue the same course through its Secretary as was done with such 
 telling effect in 1913, viz., that the Secretary of the Diocese be in- 
 structed to forward copies of the memorial to each of the deputies 
 to the next General Convention from the various Dioceses and Mis- 
 sionary Districts composing the Province of Sewanee, with the re- 
 quest that they join us in the objects of the memorial. 
 
 Finally, your colored brethren will continue faithful in the future 
 to the trust committed to their keeping, as they have endeavored to 
 do in the past; ever confident that He who has begun a good work 
 in us "will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ." 
 
 Henry B. Delany, 
 Jas. King Satterwhite, 
 Robert N. Perry, 
 Chas. H. Boyer, 
 Geo. C. Pollard, 
 J. O. Pltjmmer, M.D., 
 
 Committee.