A Nickel and a Prayer

CHAPTER 10. Our New Home

CHAPTER X Our New Home1 D r. Paul F. Sutphen described the work of the Phillis Wheatley as a great gas well, with forces stronger than the veins through which the gas is directed. This comparison in its full significance burst upon us in 1922. We had added a music department,2 classes in handicraft, and dancing; had secured a gymnasium, and opened our doors to church and neighborhood clubs. In the full sense of the word, we had become a community center. It was agreed that the time was ripe for us to have a new and adequate building. Repeatedly I had pointed out that it was quite time for Negroes to discontinue the custom of taking over secondhand buildings and trying to adjust them to their needs. I believed that our work would be higher in standard and of greater usefulness if it could be carried on in a building constructed to fit the needs of our program. Never had we had a stronger, more influential Board; nor a wiser, more unselfish President than we had at this time in Mrs. D. W. Frackelton. With her help the Board of Trustees made the appeal to the public to help us raise $550,000. No social agency for Negro girls had ever sought so large a sum, and some of the Board members doubted the possibility of raising such an amount. But the President and I never wavered nor lost faith. We knew that if we asked we should receive.3 The Negroes themselves established a nucleus of $15,000. Mrs. Robert 100  Our New Home 101 H. Bishop, Jr., who headed the Preliminary Gift Committee, opened the way to the hearts of large donors. Mrs. Stevenson Burke, a civic-minded and wealthy woman, and a member of our Board, inspired the workers with a gift of $25,000. In the summer of 1924, Mrs. Bishop and I secured pledges for $90,000. With these gifts, the amount arose to $130,000. Most encouraging to me were the gifts of the working men and women whose contributions meant a real sacrifice. The staff also gave from their small salaries. Even our cook, “Mother Rich,”4 contributed one hundred dollars; while another cook, Ellen Jackson,5 gave two hundred and fifty dollars , a part of her life’s savings. The committee decided to make an appeal for assistance to the Rockefeller Foundation.6 Mrs. Bishop and Mrs. Edwin Burke7 journeyed to New York and presented our need to the Laura Spelman Foundation.8 As it happened , our case did not come within the scope of this Foundation, but so impressed were its members that they brought the matter to the attention of Mr. John D. Rockefeller, Jr.9 Mr. Rockefeller, influenced no doubt by the fact that his mother had always been much interested in the colored race, and, if living, undoubtedly would have been responsive to this need, made a pledge of $100,000. As was his custom in the giving of large gifts, Mr. Rockefeller made the following stipulations: First: that $450,000 should be secured by the Association on or before February 1, 1928. Second: that his pledge should become due and payable only pro rata with the amount received in cash from other contributors to the building fund. Third: that if the balance of the sum pledged should not be paid on or before the above date, his pledge would lapse and all his obligations thereunder would terminate. Great indeed was the jubilation over this very magnanimous gift which proved the spur to the success of the campaign when it opened in January, 1925. When enthusiasm was at its height, there arose a most unfortunate 102 Chapter X circumstance. The more one seeks Divine Guidance, the more Satan tries one’s faith. A Negro undertaker10 and a white real estate broker,11 with every earmark of ulterior motives, purchased a home in a fashionable residential district, moving a hearse into the yard and placing a large sign on the house. This act stirred the ire of the people of the Heights,12 and so affected the campaign workers that the campaign committee was forced to purchase the property from the enterprisers at a much higher cost than the original price. A few friends made up a purse and repurchased the property from our committee. It took some time for the ill will engendered by...