Who Was Elias Camp Morris? and Arkansas Baptist College
Subscribe to us on:
Elias Camp Morris from his 1901 book, Sermons, Addresses and Reminiscences and Important Correspondence, With a Picture Gallery of Eminent Ministers and Scholars.
Arkansas Baptist College was founded in 1884 by the Colored Baptists of Arkansas. It was founded as the Minister’s Institute at a convention at Mount Zion Baptist Church in Little Rock. In April of 1885 the name of the institute was changed to Arkansas Baptist College
Elias Camp Morris was the founder of the school, he was a fierce advocate for the Baptist denomination and for the education of Black people. He was the minister at Centennial Baptist Church in Helena, Arkansas starting in 1876. He rose to the heights of leadership within the baptist circles in Arkansas. He spoke of his work in Arkansas and of the founding of Arkansas Baptist College, in his 1901 book:
“My first meeting with the Baptist State Convention of Arkansas was in 1880, and at this session of the Convention I was chosen as Secretary and was reelected the following year; but in 1882, I was chosen President of the Convention and have been kept in that position for nineteen consecutive years. One of the most satisfactory and highly valuable legacies to the claim of the writer is that he enjoys the confidence and esteem of all the Baptists of the State. At the time of my election to the Presidency of the Arkansas Baptist State Convention, there was a membership in the State of only thirty thousand, and there was not a single educational institution in the state operated by colored Baptists. But now they have a membership of seventy thousand, five high schools and one college. The college is located at Little Rock, the capital of the State, and stands second to no school for the training of the colored youth of the South.”
In addition, Elias Camp Morris was at that meeting that we spoke of (when we talked about the history of the American Baptist College and its founding)—the meeting we discussed was in Atlanta, GA, in 1895, where Dr. Martin Luther King’s grandfather was in attendance and where the National Baptist Convention was consolidated. There, from among all of the leaders in attendance, Elias Camp Morris was elected President of the National Baptist Convention and would be the leader of this organization that had well over 1,000,000 members for 27 years, until his death in 1922.
He was a strong champion for the values of his religion and for the education of his people. His thoughts can be seen in this sermon, preached in September of 1894 at the Baptist Educational Convention in Montgomery, AL.
[Preached before the Baptist Educational Convention at Montgomery, Ala., September, 1894.]
(Biblical) Text:--"The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!”
For years the Negro Baptists of the world have been held up to the ridicule of the other denominations.
———
This grave charge has stood before the world for a generation. But I tell you tonight that the charge was never true of us as a whole, for from the days of slavery until now, the leading Baptist preachers and the intelligent and progressive element in our churches have composed the vanguard of God's great army among the Negro Christians of the world. And the only reason I assign for the ignorance of those who thus falsely charge us, is that their eyes are evil.
———
It is perhaps not out of place to make the admission that those who know the least about the Negro Baptists as a denomination, are the members of our own churches. Very many people are Baptists without being able to give an intelligent reason why they are Baptists. The Educational Convention seeks to enlighten them and put in the minds and hearts of the great army of our followers that same knowledge, zeal and courage that is possessed by many of the leaders who have done such a marvelous work in the last twenty years. The great work of training and religiously educating the people has just begun. All of the years of the past have been spent in preparation for the campaign now before us. But the time has come to push the battle for an educated ministry as well as for an educated pew to the very last ditch. We must not rest until we have informed the people and put upon the tongue of every Baptist the names of such schools as Shaw University, Spellman Seminary, Roger Williams University, Richmond Theological Seminary, State University, Ky., Leland University, Benedict College, Bishop College, Selma University, Arkansas Baptist College, Jackson College, Guadalupe College, Hearne Academy, Howe Institute, Arkadelphia Academy, Natchez College and many others which I do not call to mind just now. These are among the many strong citadels of the denomination and their power and influence should be known by and read of by men. Our own constituency should be taught to know them and should learn to love, honor and serve them. Nor should we be content with teaching the people the names of these institutions and the great work they are doing for the cause of the race and Christianity; but they should be brought to know and put in touch with the thousands of pious Christian gentlemen who have come forth from the schools as polished shafts from the quiver, and we should seek to make place for them to work among our people. I repeat that "If thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be of light.”
References:
Arkansas Baptist College, “Mission and Vision”. Accessed December 11, 2022. https://www.arkansasbaptist.edu/about-us-2/
Morris, Elias Camp. Sermons, Addresses and Reminiscences and Important Correspondence, With a Picture Gallery of Eminent Ministers and Scholars. (Nashville: National Baptist Publishing Board, 1901). pp. 18 - 22 and entire book.
National Baptist Convention. “History of the National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc.” Accessed December 11, 2022 https://www.nationalbaptist.com/departments/auxiliaries/moderators/president