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•
Kowaliga Academy and Industrial
Institute. Kowaliga. Ala.
WilliaIn E.. Benson. President
L OCATED about forty miles north of Montgomery, and
sixteen miles fwm any railroad. It is not a town, neither
is it a village. Founded by '" m. E. Benson, it pre ent
president, it is established" to train and higher educate the workmen
and fit them for
the life they are to lead
at home." At the same
time it is established to
show tudents who desire
a better education,
a knowledge that will
fit them for the academy
and indu trial
schools.
Pre ident Benson is
a ~'oung colored man
who e father has a ucce
sful farm in Alabama.
The young
man conceiyed the
idea that hi father'
farm might be u ed
in helping the Jegroe
WM. E. BENSON of hi community to
President of Kowaliga Academy and Industrial Institute better their condition.
After graduation from Howard University in 'Washington,
he returned home with the object of establishing there a
school similar to Tu kegee. He combined the teaching of the
hand with that of the head and heart. He i succeeding in •
e tabli hing an indu triou and land-holding community of
Negroe at Kowaliga.
Property Destroyed by Fire in 190 9
Two hundred and eighty-three tudent and e1eyen teachers
were enrolled in 1908. ,The chool owned fiye building,
valued at 20,000, in which academic, manual training, and
dome tic departments were conducted. While Pre ident Benon
wa in the Jorth, in January, 1909, four of the principal
chool buildings were de troyed by fire. An appeal has been
is ued for funds to rebuild the chool buildings, and to continue
the work of the In titute.
"The Dixie Industrial Company"
The DL\:ie Indu. trial Company, incorporated 1900, develop
self-reliance, and demonstrate what an intelligent and industrial
Negro community ought to be. The company has a paidup
capital of $53,000, own nine acres of splendid farm and
timber land, ha built eighteen cottage and lea ed forty farms.
Operates five shingle mills and gives employment to nearly
300 Negroes, and is making a uccess of the "Industrial
Settlement" idea. •
President Ben on says: "The best help i elf-help, and I
cannot conceive of any wiser philanthropy than that which
will put needy Southern communitie on their feet, and at the
arne time pa -legitimate dividends on money invested. Northern
charity can do nothing more than to help the Jegro out of
his e},."tremity; his further advancement must come throuoah
the :\fegro him elf."
•
Seasonal Industries
Empha izing the yalue of self-help, Pre ident Ben on call
attention to the fact that 75 per cent of the Kegroes are in the
rural districts and live mainl~' by rai ina cotton. This keep
them busy, however, only six months in the year. with the other
ix months spent in idlenes. Thi idJene s is the chief ource
of crime and poverty. The Kowaliga plan aims to olve this
problem by providing" ea onal indu trie "which will fum' h
employment to the member of the community the other half of
the year when they are not employed in their farms. Thi
enables the community to develop it natural re ource in conjunction
with it agricultural po ibilitie, providing teady
employment the year round for the farm population and enables
the farmer them elve to double their earning capacity by
lumina into money that part of their time which would otherwi e
be wa ted.
The Dixie Indu trial Compan~-, throuah it aw-mill, turpentine-
till, cotton-ainnery, fertilizer-mill, and auxiliary indu
tries, furnishe work to the farmer of the neighborho~d as
oon a their farm-work i over and pay. them good wages.
The annual earnina capacity of the communit~· has been increa
ed by 20,000 in ix ~'ears through the emplo~'mentof time
that was formerly wa t din idlene ..
•
•
