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Prof. J. D. Stevenson
Tuskeg.... Ala.
Rev. Wesley F. Grahatn
RichD1ond. Va.
Prof. ]. D. Stevenson W. F. Graham, D.D.
P A TOR of the Fifth Street Baptist Church. Born at Fore t,
Scott County, iis., May 10, 1858. He was a slave and still
has vivid recollections of the time, in 1863, when he, his parents
and a large number of other slaves were refuO'eed to :l\1ontgomery,
AIa., for safe keeping. Mter
the war was over he was carried by his
parents to Bolivar, Tenn., where they
spent two year farming. In 1871 they
moved to Lee County, Ark., where
young Graham spent several years on
the cotton farms, in brick yard , and
cutting timber.
He joined the church in 1874 and
became an active Sunday- chool
worker. At nineteen he was licensed
to preach by the First Baptist Church,
Forrest City, Ark. After attending the
public schools of Lee County for
everal years younO' Graham entered a a state student the
Branch Normal College at Pine Bluff, Ark. He began his
studies there in the fall of 1878 and graduated in 1881. While
in Pine Bluff he was ordained as pastor of the Middle Baptist
Church. In October, 1881, he went to Wayland Seminary,
"ashington, D, C., under the pre idency of Dr. G. M. P. King,
and fini hed his course of study in 1883.
He ha been a pa tor in Virginia for twenty-six 'ears. His
work has been very uece ful. His pre ent charge i one of the
be t in Virginia, having more than 1,500 members. He became
pastor of this church in 1892. He was married to Miss Josie
A. Shield, 1\1arch, 1884. His wife is also a graduate of Wayland
eminar". Dr. Graham has hown' keen interest in the •
busincs life of his race. He i at the head of an indu trial in-surance
company which employs over 200 per ons and handles
$150,000 a year. He is a reO'ular contributor to the literature of
the National Baptist Publi hing Board, and has for year been
the chairman of the trustee board of VirO'inia Seminary located
in Lynchburg, Va. Dr. Graham, pa tor and bu iness man,
occupie a position of leadership among the Bapti t because
of hi unusual bu ine s and executive ability, his literary
attainment, and hi per. anal qualities.
UPEIlI!\TENDENT of Young Men' Chri tian A ociation and
unday- chool work at Tu kegce Institute.
He wa born in ~lald n, W. Va., June 22, 1873. He attended
tit public 'chool about ix month' each year. At the age of
eilThteen he entered Hampton Institute,
where he tudied for four years.
After leaving Hampton, he went to
80 ton, to complete a cour e in bu ines
college, where he tudied for two
year , and wa immediately called to
Tu kegee, in 1905, to take up work in
the auditing d partment of the Institute.
During hi tay in Boston he connected
him elf with the Young Men's
Christian A sociation. He connected
him elf with a small band of young
men who called themselves the" Emmanuel
Praying Band," whose object was to lead others to
Christ. "To this band more Ulan anyone thing," he ays,
" I owe all the success which I have had in Christian work at
Tuskegee. God has u ed me each year ince being here in
leading from fifty to event '-five young men to Chri t through
personal work."
On arrivinO' at Tu kegee, he engaged in work with :'oung men.
At that tim the member hip of the Young ~len' Chri tian
A oeiation wa mall; to-day it i nearly four hundred. So
rapidly did the work grow that the ehool thought it wise, more
than a year ago, to have Profe or tevenson in taIled as the
g neral ecr tary of the Young ~lcn' hri tian As ociation
work. Ilc has orO'uniz d the mallcr boys of th chool into a
club callcd the" ureful Build r lub," who e member hip is
near one hundred. This club i doing much for the moral and
spiritual grm\1h of the boys. Each year the Bible tudy work
conducted under the auspicl's of the Y. M. C. A. of the
school ha an enrollment of al out six hundred men and boy.
hartly after his arriyal at Tu kegee he wa called to the
uperintendeney of the unday- chool, which position he ha
hcld each rcar since. The unday-school i compo ed of more
than 1,500 pupil , with 60 teacher'.
442
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