Politics, Passions, and Partisanship

In 1873, the Alabama State Legislature set up the State Normal School for Colored Students in Marion. It is likely that the school was put in Marion for several reasons: (1) Lincoln School was already there and had started to make its mark; (2) there was an abundance of former slaves and other Blacks in Marion who thirsted for education; and (3) because of the political dealings and leadership of Alexander Curtis, a Marion man, at the Statehouse in Montgomery.

Even though the Lincolnite Fourth Biennial Reunion Program (Cleveland, Ohio, 1982), has a statement that reads: "In 1874 the school grew so large that the AMA asked the State of Alabama to take over the Normal Department." History records the issue differently. The statetook over as a result of tactics by Curtis, a Baptist, and now a powerful man. He always had strong reservations about the mission of the missionaries.

Porter King, a white man, became a trustee of the State Normal School - the same Porter King who donated the first land to Lincoln School. He was a Southerner, an anti-slavery man with philanthropic motives. It is very likely that Curtis wanted him there.

The AMA kept the Primary Department, and continued to teach younger children. Dr. Johnson put it another way in his article "Powerful Little School":

The school had a precarious existence until 1874 when it was taken over by the state normal school. This arrangement continued until 1887 when the school building was destroyed by fire, which led the state to move its teacher-training work to Montgomery.

The State Normal School for Colored Students was sometimes called "Lincoln Normal University" or "the U" - a misnomer by today's standards. This was the first school in the State of Alabama for the higher education of African American youths. It was designed to train black teachers. Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical College, near Huntsville in the extreme north of the state, was not operative until 1875, even though funding for both institutions was approved at the same time. In other words, the State Normal School for Colored Students operated more than a year before Alabama A and M had its first students. The primary emphasis on black education in Alabama related to teaching, agriculture and mechnical arts. These were realistic aims in a time of great necessity.

William Burns Patterson served as principal after the state took over. G.N. Card may have served briefly as principal (The Cleveland Lincolnite Biennial Program had recorded his name as G.N. Cord. It is changed to Card here, based on the research in Richard Bailey's book, Neither Carpetbaggers nor Scalawags). It is believed that Card nor Patterson was intimately related to the American Missionary Association.

Recently acquired information indicates that Patterson, originally from Scotland, presided over the affairs of the Normal School for most of its life in Marion, if not all of it. His first effort at educating African Americans had been at a log school in Hopewell. He later established Tullibody Academy in Greensboro.

The Lincolnite Fourth Biennial Reunion Program refers to "the two divisions of Lincoln Normal," and that they "worked very harmoniously together." That point is debatable.

Lincoln School lasted from 1866 to 1874 - a period of only eight years as an independent institution. The AMA, however, continued to have a presence and influence through the First Congregational Church and the lower school with some few members of the Baptist church protesting. Loudly.