Rev. Daniel Hunter Butler, D. D., who at this time is President of Campbell College, is a native of Mississippi, having been born of slave parents. His early life was one of privation and suffering, having lost his parents while young. He worked his way through school, and graduated with high honors at Jackson College, located at Jackson, Miss. He at one time attended Oberlin College, at Oberlin, Ohio, but could not remain for want of funds.
Rev. Butler has been a very successful teacher and pastor. He has been principal of some of the large public schools in both Mississippi, Alabama and Tennessee. As a pastor he has had charge of some of the leading churches in Atlanta and other large towns of the South.
[Illustration: REV. DANIEL HUNTER BUTLER, D. D.]
His theological training was received at Gammon Theological Seminary. Since Prof. Butler took charge of Campbell College the school has taken on new life, and the attendance has been increased very much, and the outlook for the school is much brighter.
Payne University is located at Selma, Ala. It is now being conducted in a frame building, and is well attended. The school is in a part of the South where the African Methodist Church has a large membership, and as a connectional school will do great good. The courses of study are College, Normal and Academic. Prof. J. S. Moten, A. M., LL. B., is president of Payne University, and is regarded by all who know him as a fine scholar. He has had charge of this work for several years, and the school has grown both in attendance and popularity under his management. Prof. Moten is assisted by his very able and accomplished wife, besides other able teachers. I was very favorably impressed with the school as a power for good.
Shorter College is located at Argenta, Ark., and is a great help to the A. M. E. Church in that State. They have a splendid frame building and an able body of teachers. Courses there are College, Normal, Classical English, Theological and Industrial. The school is indeed fortunate in having Dr. Thos. H. Jackson as its president, as he is known to be one of the best scholars in the United States, and will be a great blessing to the school and church in that section of the South.