Neighbors Recognizing and Redefining Identities in the Belgian Congo, 1916–1935

Chapter 4 explains how the ministerial priorities of Althea Brown and Alonzo Edmiston developed through coordination with African villagers, students, and church members in the Belgian Congo. The missionaries’ descriptions of local life are analyzed through comparison with historical context and anthropological studies of the region. African theology produced in the three decades following decolonization is introduced as an interpretive lens for analyzing the perspectives of African people experiencing the first decades of transition from Congo Free State policies to the Belgian Congo government. The chapter closes by identifying the Edmistons’ sense of kinship with the Kuba kingdom as their link to specific rituals in African traditional religion.

Introduction

The introduction explains how analysis of the mission work performed by Althea Brown and Alonzo Edmiston contributes to studies of historically black education, American Protestant church history, southern history, colonialism, and the African diaspora. It states how the activities of these two ministers added nuance to two major controversies in their lifetimes: the development of race-specific pedagogy and the expansion of segregation among many American Protestant denominations. The source material used to analyze the Edmistons and the American Presbyterian Congo Mission is introduced in comparison with scholarly perspectives on how African villagers and students also shaped mission policies.

Industrial Education and Symbolic Home Building in the Congo Free State, 1898–1907

Chapter 1 explains trends in the African American Protestant missions movement up to 1907 with a focus on William Henry Sheppard and the black staff of the American Presbyterian Congo Mission. The literary and musical accomplishments of Althea Brown are introduced in the context of her classical training at Fisk University. The role that Alonzo Edmiston played in developing industrial education at the Congo Mission is introduced through his childhood working on a Tennessee plantation and his education at Stillman Institute. The final section explains how both ministers applied their academic backgrounds and the lessons of previous black missionaries to rebuilding a mission station despite political turmoil in the region.

Conclusion

The conclusion argues that signs of the Edmistons’ collaborative approach to classical and industrial education remained evident after their mission work ended. Analysis of government and denominational records shows that Belgian colonial policies and Southern Presbyterian programs adopted similar academic strategies in the 1940s. The denomination also supported such work in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 1963. These policies and programs are introduced in comparison with the ways that Alonzo Edmiston collaborated with Belgian officials during his final years at the American Presbyterian Congo Mission. And a description of the memorial tributes to Althea Brown’ suggests how African Presbyterians expressed a sense of kinship with the African American missionaries.

Congo Missionaries and the Perpetuation of Manual Labor, 1908–1936

Chapter 2 analyzes the effect of globalized industrial education strategies on the career prospects of African American missionaries. It identifies the restrictive policies applied to students and graduates from the three institutions that the Edmistons were affiliated with: Fisk University, Stillman Institute, and Tuskegee Institute. The chapter explains how the couple tried to adjust to new work expectations without either reducing their ministries to manual labor alone or falling victim to undisclosed moratoriums on African American international travel. It also shows how increased colonial demands for African laborers increased the pressure for African Americans to design a just alternative within the setting of the mission stations.

On the Perimeter of Two Freedom Struggles, 1930–1936

This chapter analyzes international power struggles during the final years of the Edmistons’ joint ministry. It shows that African Presbyterian leaders gained more authority within the American Presbyterian Congo Mission during the early 1930s in part because of lingering fears about Pan-Africanism and African American civil rights activism. Changes in the authority of African pastors are shown through Congo Mission committee meeting records that describe numerous conflicts between certain pastors and Alonzo Edmiston. The records indicate declining administrative support for Edmiston while his affiliation with Belgian colonial government officials increased. The incidents of isolation and segregation that Edmiston and Brown experienced during these years are compared to the contemporary racial segregation in the couple’s home base of Selma, Alabama. Their personal and professional connections to early civil rights leaders in that city are analyzed through a description of the Edmistons’ final furlough.

Implementing Historically Black Education Strategies at the Presbyterian Congo Mission, 1918–1919

This chapter details aspects of Fisk University, Stillman Institute, and Tuskegee Institute that Althea Brown and Alonzo Edmiston adapted for religious education from 1918 to 1919. It analyzes each missionary’s experiences at one of these campuses between 1892 and 1904 to show the academic roots of their perspectives on art, folklore, finance, local politics, and sustainable agriculture. Details of the consequences of colonial taxation and forced labor help explain why the Edmistons’ plans for the Luebo Agricultural College failed the following year. Descriptions of the student body suggest that the legacy of the college reflected its balance of classical and industrial education even when its agricultural goals went unmet.