Central Alabama Institute Explained

Central Alabama Institute
Founder:	Pittsburg Aid Society, Rev. Madison C. B. Mason
Closed:	1922
Established:	1865
Location:	Huntsville, Alabama, U.S. (1865–1904) Mason City, Alabama, U.S. (1905–1922)
Other Name:	Rust Institute Rust Normal Institute Rust Biblical and Normal Institute Central Alabama Academy Central Alabama Institute and College Central Alabama College

Central Alabama Institute (1865 – 1922) was a private school for African American in Alabama, United States. The school was the city of Huntsville's first school for the African American community during the Reconstruction era. It was founded in 1865 in Huntsville, Alabama, and moved in 1904 to Mason City, near Birmingham, Alabama. The school also went by the names Rust Institute,^[1] Rust Normal Institute, Rust Biblical and Normal Institute, Central Alabama Academy,^[2] Central Alabama Institute and College, and Central Alabama College.^[3]

History

It was established under the name the Rust Institute, as a school to train African American teachers in Alabama in 1865.^{[4] [5]} The Pittsburg Aid Society sent the earliest teachers to the school, and the following year in 1866 the Freedmen's Aid Society and the Methodist Episcopal Church took over the leadership.^[6] A two story brick building opened at the corner of Franklin Street and Townsend Avenue in Huntsville, Alabama in 1865.

It later changed the school name to Rust Normal Institute, followed by Rust Biblical and Normal Institute. From 1880 to 1881, the school had two instructors and 111 students, and was preparing to grow more.^[7] It became Central Alabama Academy in 1890.

In 1904 it moved to Mason City on the outskirts of Birmingham, Alabama, and reopened in 1905 as Central Alabama College. The Mason City location was founded by Rev. Madison C. B. Mason, working alongside the Freedmen's Aid Society, and the Methodist Episcopal Church.^[8] In 1922 its main building and other structures were struck by fire. It was not rebuilt or reopened. The Sherman Industrial Institute used a former Central Alabama Institute school building in Huntsville.^[9]

Jay Samuel Stowell wrote about the school in "Methodist Adventures in Negro Education" (1922).^[10]

Notable people

Mary Martha Lakin, the daughter of Arad Simon Lakin, served as a teacher at the school in 1868.^[11] Margaret Walker (née Alexander) was born on the campus in 1915, where her father Rev. Sigismund Walker taught.^[12]

Principals

• E. Miner^[13]
• G.M.P. King^[14]
• Mary L. Raines
• H. H. Sutton

Presidents

• Robert Nathaniel Brooks^[15]
• Isaac Newton Pailor, from 1875 to 1876^[16]
• William Laurene Riley, from 1900 to ?
• Alexander Priestly Camphor (A.P. Camphor); from 1908 to 1916^[17]
• J. B. F. Shaw, from 1916 to ?^{[18] [19]}

Notable alumni

• Anna E. Cooper
• William Laurene Riley, class of 1886

Notes and References

1. Book: Hubbs, G. Ward . Searching for Freedom After the Civil War: Klansman, Carpetbagger, Scalawag, and Freedman . 2015-05-15 . University of Alabama Press . 978-0-8173-1860-4 . 191–192 . en.
2. News: 1900-12-28 . President W. L. Riley . 2024-07-25 . The Journal . 2 . Newspapers.com.
3. Book: Fallin, Wilson Jr. . The African American Church in Birmingham, Alabama, 1815-1963: A Shelter in the Storm . September 6, 2017 . Routledge . 9781351629287 . Google Books.
4. Book: Murphy . Larry G. . Encyclopedia of African American Religions . Melton . J. Gordon . Ward . Gary L. . November 20, 2013 . Routledge . 9781135513382 . Google Books.
5. Book: Kiddle . Henry . The Cyclopædia of Education: A Dictionary of Information for the Use of Teachers, School Officers, Parents, and Others . Schem . Alexander Jacob . 1876 . E. Steiger . 810 . en.
6. Book: Freedmen's Aid Society . Annual Report of the Freedmen's Aid Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church . 1878 . Western Methodist Book Concern Press . 30 . en.
7. Web site: United States Bureau of Education . June 25, 1884 . Report of the Commissioner of Education Made to the Secretary of the Interior for the Year ... with Accompanying Papers . U.S. Government Printing Office . 7 . Google Books.
8. Book: An Era of Progress and Promise: 1863-1910 . The Priscilla Publishing Co. . 1910 . Hartshorn . William Newton . Boston, Massachusetts . 195 . en . Penniman . George W..
9. Book: Judd . Charles Hubbard . https://books.google.com/books?id=jPNEAQAAMAAJ&pg=RA2-PA102 . State Higher Educational Institutions of Iowa: A Report to the Iowa State Board of Education of a Survey Made Under the Direction of the Commissioner of Education . Eliot . Charles William . Williams . J. Harold . Hoke . Kremer Jacob . Education . United States Office of . Larson . Walter E. . Ryan . Will Carson . Nelson . Ernesto . Parker . Samuel Chester . 1917 . U.S. Government Printing Office . 102 . en . Sherman Industrial Institute . Google Books.
10. Web site: Jay S. Stowell (Jay Samuel), 1883-1966. Methodist Adventures in Negro Education. .
11. Book: Harris, Paul William . A Long Reconstruction: Racial Caste and Reconciliation in the Methodist Episcopal Church . 2022-02-25 . Oxford University Press . 978-0-19-757184-2 . 52–53 . en.
12. Web site: Research Guides: Black Women Oral History Project Interviews, 1976–1981: Biographies .
13. Book: The Methodist Almanac . 1872 . G. Lane . 57 . en.
14. Book: United States Bureau of Education . Report of the Commissioner of Education Made to the Secretary of the Interior for the Year ... with Accompanying Papers . 1886 . U.S. Government Printing Office . 409 . en.
15. Web site: Brooks, Robert Nathaniel . 2024-07-25 . NCpedia.org.
16. Book: Herringshaw, Thomas William . Herringshaw's National Library of American Biography . 1914 . American publishers' association . 363 . en.
17. News: 1919-12-12 . Noted Negro Bishop Dies in Jersey Home . 2024-07-25 . . 25 . Newspapers.com.
18. News: August 18, 1916 . Clipped From The Montgomery Advertiser . The Montgomery Advertiser . 5 . newspapers.com.
19. Web site: Baker . Webster B. . June 25, 1924 . History of Rust College . The Author . Google Books.