Home Mission Society - The Legacy of Home Mission

The Legacy of Home Mission

Leaders and missionaries of ABHMS were involved in the founding of New York University, University of Chicago, Vassar College, Denison University, Kalamazoo College, Bacone College, Franklin College, and other schools. After the Civil War, ABHMS directed considerable financial and human resources to the establishment of schools for freed men. One of the first of more than two dozen was Wayland Seminary in Washington, D.C., in 1865, where Booker T. Washington studied, 1878-79. Wayland merged with Richmond Institute in 1899 to form Virginia Union University. Shaw University, Morehouse College, Spelman College, Benedict College, and Florida Memorial University all trace their beginnings to the work of ABHMS. During the Great Depression, ABHMS turned over administration of the historically black colleges to the American Baptist Board of Education. Responsibility for Bacone College, International Baptist Seminary, and SABS remained with the Home Mission Society.