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12 A brief letter can deliver a message of great import. Inside this note, written on August , , by the second bishop of the Missionary District of West Texas, were traveling instructions for a trip to San Antonio and $ to defray travel expenses. The instruction to wear a bow of red ribbon was to enable Bishop James Steptoe Johnston, sender of the letter, to recognize the addressee, but embedded in its contents was much, much more. For the recipient, Artemisia Bowden, the letter became a symbol of the journey that spanned fifty-two years and countless miles, but for the writer, Bishop James Steptoe Johnston, it marked the beginning of an association that lasted until his death. On Wednesday, September , , Artemisia Bowden came to Texas to meet Bishop Steptoe Johnston in his home to discuss a position as principal at St. Philip’s Day School. The day of the meeting was the first of many such meetings. The Journey Begins The train ride from Georgia to Texas was long and tedious, giving Artemisia Bowden plenty of time to ponder what had seemed at the time a good idea. With so much time on her hands, it is easy to envision Bowden thinking that now her decision to go to Texas seemed reckless and ill advised. Accepting a position at St. Philip’s School in San Antonio, a place where she knew no one, in a town that she had never before visited, in an area where the Negro population was extremely sparse, probably appeared not only reckless, but very unwise. One can imagine that she may have had anxiety as the reality of the situation set in—she had left a good job in North Carolina to work in Texas for a man she had never met. The 1900s: Artemisia Bowden As the journey continued, we can imagine Bowden reflecting upon the lessons her father taught her—don’t get discouraged if things don’t work out. When you find something to do, do it the best that you can. Her father, a former slave, had always been her rock of support and it is easy to imagine that thinking of him eased her mind. The arduous road that St. Philip’s College traveled for more than a century on its way to greatness mirrored the long and tedious journey that Artemisia Bowden experienced as she made her way to Texas. The bold and daring spirit in the actions of both Bowden and the college seemed always to be moving steadily, relentlessly, ever toward a new destination, but always with the same goal in mind, to make St. Philip’s the great institution it was destined to become. The journey was often made with trepidation, but it also appeared that there was no other choice. It was their destiny. As Adena Loston, the current president, says, “It’s in our DNA.” Those who labored for St. Philip’s knew that to make the school what it would become, they would have to  Coming to Texas If you will get someone to look up the schedule and write on what train to expect you, I will see that someone meets you. In order for your identification, you will please have a bow of red ribbon, about 1/2 in made on your left shoulder. I shall hope to see you at my residence Wednesday morning the 3d. Coming to Texas • 13 guardian for St. Philip’s until, like her brothers, sisters, and classmates, the school came of age and was able to stand alone. As for St. Augustine, the school had a profound influence on her life and she found the curriculum to be rigorous and thorough, staffed with dedicated, outstanding teachers and church men. Among her teachers was Rev. Henry Beard Delany, who was at one time vice principal of St. Augustine. He later became principal of St. Augustine and was one of the first two Negro bishops of the Episcopal Church to serve in the United States. Another of her teachers was Charles Boyer, a graduate of Yale University. William Augustine Perry, whose father was rector of St. Luke’s Church in North Carolina, was a classmate. Perry later led St. Augustine to become one of the finest high schools in the South. These teachers had a great influence on Bowden and the effect left her with the zeal to educate her people, and even to “win some to the Church,” as Rev. J. Carleton Hayden wrote in Linkage...

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