MAKING A LIVING
The initial attraction to the Grambling area was economic -former African captives seeking a way to make a living, Lawrence Gamer (a Professor of History at Grambling State University) noted.
These early Lincoln Parish settlers also were part of the late 1800s Agrarian/Progressive movement in the U.S. that promoted ownership of land and the equipment to work the land, according to Garner. The movement prompted the formation of African-American churches, religious organizations and agricultural cooperatives.
For most Blacks coming to the area, Grambling presented a rare economic opportunity during a period when African- Americans were the victims of some of the most violent and racist actions in U .S. history. It was difficult for former African captives to find employment or even a safe place from White antagonism and attack. Following the defeat of the Southern Slavocracy, millions of ex-captives were suddenly thrust into the job market to compete with already resentful poor Whites for the scarce economic resources of a defeated South. This contributed to a tide of White racism that prompted an increase in the number of lynching and other physical attacks on Blacks.
During this critical period, Black communities throughout the South and Southwest were safe havens for African-Americans moving westward trying to find a place following the Civil War – Grambling included.
[During this time] many acts of violence took place in north Louisiana, including Lincoln Parish, where both African-American; and Whites lost their lives. They were both determined -the former plantation captives to be free and the former slave owners to wrest back control of the South.
BLACKS ORGANIZING FOR SELF-HELP
African-Americans responded to this wave of violence by building institutions to help them through one of the most difficult periods in their history in North Louisiana, Lafayette Richmond led the effort to organize African- Americans for social, political and economic self-help.
The efforts started with individual churches in the late 1860s and, later, church groups. For this area, Grambling became the meeting place for African-American organizations.
In 1882, sixteen churches met at Liberty Hill Baptist Church in Knowles, about three miles north of Grambling, to form the Liberty Hill Baptist Association, an organization of churches located in North Central Louisiana. Rev. Phillip Lewis Sr., founding pastor of Liberty Hill Baptist Church and one of the principal organizers of the association, was elected the first president of the group. He also was one of the large African- American land owners in the area. Lewis did not live to serve out his term. His son would later become an influence in this organization and in the Allen Greene Normal and Industrial Bible Institute which the group later established and which became Grambling State University.
It is because of the political networking of North Louisiana churches that Grambling became a focal point for area African- Americans.
“This (the church) is how you get the interconnectedness of the communities of this region (Grambling),” said Gamer. “That is why Grambling even today is connected to scores of communities throughout North Louisiana. It was through the church.”
Richmond was one of the first African Americans to see the need for Blacks in the region to begin major community- building projects. As early as 1887, he and other African- Americans had “talked in undertones of the many problems” that existed between Blacks and Whites in North Louisiana, Dr. [Lena] Carter’s thesis noted. “Richmond conceived the idea that one way Negroes could help themselves would be through some type of farm relief organization,” Carter wrote. “For nine years following this encounter, Richmond walked, rode horseback, and traveled on the train to different places in Lincoln and adjoining parishes, meeting people in churches and talking to them about his idea of establishing a farm organization.”
In 1896, under Richmond’s leadership and in the spirit of the Agrarian/Progressive movement of the time, a mass meeting was held to discuss the concerns of African-Americans in the region. The result was the North Louisiana Colored Agricultural Relief Association Union. Lafayette Richmond was elected its first president, Carter noted. This organization consisted of more than 1,500 members representing five parishes: Lincoln, Jackson, Claibome, Union and Ouachita.
Gamer said that members of the Liberty Hill Baptist Association were also members of this new farmers’ group. “They worked together. These were basically the same people,” Gamer noted.
In 1899, the organization decided to make Grambling its headquarters and to establish an industrial training school for the children of the area, according to Carter. That year, the group also bought a 22-acre tract of land for the school. The site was located about one mile northwest of the present campus of Grambling State University and served as the founding site of the university. An historical marker, however, on the present grounds of the Liberty Hill Baptist Association lists 1896 as the founding date of the school.
THEN CAME CHARLES P. ADAMS
When Charles P. Adams stepped off the train August 4, 1901 in front of what is now Mt. Zion Baptist Church on West Martin Luther King Drive, he was met by the Revs. Dennis Hollis and P. B. Lewis, Dr .Mildred Gallot notes in her history of the university. At 6’4″, Adams was an imposing man to these two representatives of the local farmers and church groups, said Gallot, who chairs the History and Geography Department at the university.
African Americans were busy building” a community when Adams came to town to head a school started by the local farmers and ministers.
For the Grambling community , Adams’ arrival marked the beginning of a major influx of African-Americans from distant places -both within the state and other areas especially in the Southeast U.S.
Three things contributed to the growth of Grambling as an African-American city during this period. First, the political and social turmoil of the late 1800s helped to establish the area as the economic and cultural center for African-Americans in the region. Second, African-Americans in the area owned large tracts of land and were basically self-sufficient. This attracted Blacks from other areas who sought employment here. Third, the establishment of a school for African-Americans and the organizational headquarters of church and economic groups helped to make Grambling an important area for Blacks in the region.
(Reprint from egrambling.com, “The City of Grambling: Historical Information”, 2005)
Reginald Owens is the retired chairman of the Department of Journalism at Louisiana Tech University where he was the inaugural holder of the F. Jay Taylor Endowed Chair of Journalism. He also served as director of the former Tech news bureau and associate director of university communication. He also taught at Grambling State University, where he was also publication director for The Gramblinite.