Black Giving in Minnesota: The Tradition Continues

by Emmett D. Carson, president and CEO of The Minneapolis Foundation, and
David V. Taylor, dean of General College, University of Minnesota

Over 150 years ago, when Alexis de Toqueville observed that "Americans ... are forever forming associations," organized black philanthropy was already a half-century old. Surprisingly, though, scholars studying the nonprofit sector have only recently exhibited interest in examining the philanthropic behavior of blacks or other minorities. That is partly because early nonprofit scholars focused on wealthy individuals capable of making large gifts, and few of them were black. It is also partly because much of the early charitable activity of blacks occurred through the black churches, often in secrecy.

Since the late 1700s, organized black philanthropy has been an indispensable mechanism both for the socio-economic survival of the race and for providing the resources to promote social change. In Minnesota, where blacks settled later and in fewer numbers than in other northern cities, such philanthropic activities got under way in the late 1800s, by which time 1,500 blacks had settled in the Twin Cities. St. Paul quickly developed as the state's center of black social and cultural life and remained so until shortly after 1910, when it was slowly eclipsed by the growth of an African American population in Minneapolis.

Early black philanthropy can be categorized into four main branches: black churches, mutual aid organizations and clubs, socio-political leagues, and community organizations. Each of these branches owes much to the influential role black leaders played in mobilizing resources within their own communities. By 1887, an article in the St. Paul and Minneapolis Pioneer Press described 13 black leaders with assets between $5,000 and $100,000. Among them were Mr. and Mrs. Thomas H. Lyles and James K. Hilyard. This barber and clothing dealer and their wives were instrumental in strengthening and uniting the Twin Cities black community in dozens of ways-from aggressively recruiting black doctors, lawyers and editors living in other areas of the country to relocate in the Twin Cities to founding the Western Appeal newspaper, a powerful and long-lived means for information exchange among local blacks. Mrs. Lyles also donated much of her time to helping those in need at the Women's Christian Temperance Union mission, which was established among local blacks in 1884 and operated until 1937. It is important to note that these were business people who felt an obligation to serve and strengthen the larger African American community.

Black Churches

As Robert Wuthnow and Virginia Hodgkinson wrote in Faith and Philanthropy in America: Without doubt, the most important philanthropic institution within the black community has been, and continues to be, the black church. From slavery to the present, the black church has been an extremely versatile institution through which blacks could channel their philanthropic resources to respond to the changing social and economic conditions that threatened the survival of the black community.

The first three black churches founded in the Twin Cities-St. James African Methodist Episcopal in Minneapolis and Pilgrim Baptist and St. Mark's Episcopal in St. Paul-served as community builders and service providers for blacks in the mid-1800s. Once each congregation had raised enough capital among the black community to purchase or construct a permanent building (in 1870, one such building cost $7,000), these churches functioned not only as the sites of religious services, but also as public meeting halls and as community centers offering a wide range of social and recreational activities. They were also collection points for money, services and other goods that were pooled toward large projects or redistributed to those in greatest need. One example of this is the home for elderly and orphaned blacks that was founded in 1906 by St. Paul's Industrial Mission church. It closed in 1967. During the intervening 60 years, the home was supported by Twin Cities black congregations through volunteer work, individual tithing, institutional pledges and organized benefits.

For blacks just arriving in the Twin Cities, black churches were an important lifeline. Without the benefit of community-based agencies to help them secure housing and employment, their main source of assistance was through churches. For example, in 1915, St. James Church began publication of the Helper, a newsletter containing job and housing references.

Education was another key concern of black churches, whose tradition of supporting educational institutions continues today. After the Civil War, churches took up the task of formally educating many of the newly freed slaves. During these years, black churches established a large number of elementary schools, high schools and colleges. In many instances, church halls became makeshift classrooms. Evidence of commitment to education by local black churches is the fact that by 1930 the illiteracy rate among Twin Cities blacks was one of the lowest in the nation and significantly lower than that of foreign-born whites.

Mutual Aid Organizations and Clubs

Carrying out a supportive role similar to that of black churches were mutual aid organizations or benevolent societies that once flourished in the black community. Like churches, these were usually founded by ministers, based on Christian values and active in providing charitable services to individuals both within and outside the black community. The origin of these societies probably stretches back to the West African tradition of Sou Sou, a cooperative arrangement where each villager makes a regular contribution to a fund that is disbursed whenever illness or other misfortune strikes. These mutual aid organizations gave the black community the financial resources and willing workers needed to help promote self-improvement and challenge social injustice. In effect, they were community foundations.

Another of the contributions of black leader Thomas Lyles, the Robert Banks Literary Society, was founded in 1875. The Banks Society was composed of 40 men and women who met to discuss issues of philosophical and practical importance to the black race. Across the country, black literary societies like the Banks Society made books and libraries available to the black reader. By 1879, records also show that a black dramatic club was flourishing in St. Paul, and had helped the residents of Stillwater stage a benefit for the relief of Kansas refugees.

Socio-Political Leagues

It would be a grave misreading of history to think that early black charitable organizations operated only for the benefit of their members; on the contrary, many of these organizations were at the forefront in addressing the social and political issues that confronted the entire black community. Blacks have used their philanthropic resources to provide the crucial finances and manpower to help virtually every black social movement in history, including the underground railroad, the Garvey movement and the civil rights movement.

Minnesota was particularly active in this area. As early as 1869, after the early passage of a non-white suffrage law in Minnesota (one of only a few states to pass such laws prior to the amendment of the U.S. Constitution to permit blacks to vote nationally), a statewide organization called the Sons of Freedom was established. Supposedly composed of all the black men in the state, its purpose was to monitor the general welfare of black residents and provide information on employment, housing farms for lease and trade apprenticeships available to them.

In the 1880s, St. Paul blacks began to form organizations designed to combat local de facto segregation and lend support to court tests of proscriptive legislation in the South. The first of these was established in 1887, when blacks from 15 counties gathered in St. Paul to form the Minnesota Protective and Industrial League. The League's goals were to promote homesteading in Minnesota, to construct affordable housing, and to secure employment and educational opportunities for blacks. Two years later, rallying to a call for the creation of a national group to act on behalf of the race, a similar community-wide organization known as the Afro-American League was started in St. Paul. Additional leagues were established in Anoka, Duluth, Faribault, Minneapolis and Stillwater. In 1891, a third group-the Minnesota Citizens Civil Rights Committee-grew out of Afro-American League efforts to raise funds to test the legality of Tennessee's Jim Crow law. Undaunted by its lack of success in Tennessee, the committee went on to raise funds for a second attempt in Oklahoma. In 1905, members of the Afro-American Council again teamed up to found the Twin City Protective League, an organization interested in improving living conditions for blacks in the Twin Cities and the precursor of the St. Paul chapter of the NAACP, founded in 1913.

Community Organizations and Centers

As more blacks moved to Minneapolis following World War I, the combined efforts of churches, social clubs, civic organizations, business leagues and black barbers to help find housing and work for the new arrivals were no longer sufficient. (Barbershops have traditionally served as important centers of information exchange in the black community. The Hall Brothers Barbershop in St. Paul, for instance, functioned as an employment center during the early years of this century by posting available jobs.)

In 1923, in response to these unmet needs, the Twin Cities Urban League, a community-wide agency, was founded over the objections of the Chamber of Commerce-whose members felt that such an organization would only encourage further black migration. The joint league functioned until 1938, when separate units were formed for each city.

A second city-wide agency came into being in Minneapolis in 1924 when the Phyllis Wheatley House opened its doors, providing recreational activity, baby and dental clinics and classes in black history and culture. St. Paul had no fewer than three community centers, only one of which was not church-sponsored. Neighborhood House served the diverse population of the West Side flats across the river from downtown St. Paul. Welcome Hall Community Center offered recreational activities, Bible classes, a girls' club, and the first day-care facility in the black community. Christian Center was the dream of Reverend Joseph Walter Harris, who wished to provide a nondenominational center for religious education and wholesome recreation. Later, in 1928, The Hallie Q. Brown Community Center was established in St. Paul and later occupied a building paid for by black fraternal organizations.

All of these community organizations exhibited a noteworthy aspect of black charitable institutions from their very beginnings-their comprehensive nature. Almost all black organizations had to serve a multiplicity of purposes in the early days in response to the hostile conditions of black life. Most provided not only a wide variety of services for the needy, but spiritual, moral and political leadership as well.

Black Philanthropy Today

Today, the philanthropic leadership and resources of the black church continue to be decisive in the day-to-day life of the black community. Churches are still the most active organizations, by far, when it comes to supporting black charitable activities. Augmenting their role are today's black social and fraternal organizations-natural descendants of benevolent societies. Primarily social organizations, they continue to regard community service as a major goal, and routinely contribute money and volunteers for charitable causes.

Prior to 1960, black philanthropy could well have been described as "philanthropy among friends." For the most part, the philanthropic efforts of churches, mutual aid societies and collegiate organizations had focused on aiding individuals within their immediate community. Most recipients of this aid were either members of these organizations or friends, relatives and others known to members.

After the 1960s, however, blacks gradually developed more institutional mechanisms for charitable giving-"philanthropy among strangers"-including black foundations and fund-raising federations and private philanthropy by prosperous blacks. Ample evidence of individual generosity among blacks is found in our own Twin Cities community, from the Archie Givens collection of black literature to scholarship funds created by Luther Prince, Alan Page and Oscar Howard. Additionally, a number of institutional mechanisms have been created to promote local black giving, including The Saint Paul Foundation's Diversity Endowment Fund effort, a multi-year initiative designed to use a community foundation as a catalyst and repository for black philanthropy.

As black philanthropy continues to evolve, it will be essential that foundations find ways to partner with and strengthen the long-standing charitable traditions of African Americans.

Copyright 1995 Minnesota Council on Foundations
Reproduction in any form without the written permission of the publisher is prohibited.

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