Recently I agreed to write a book review for Arkansas Quakers about Thomas C. Kennedy’s new book: A History of Southland College: The Society of Friends and Black Education in Arkansas. For the last month, I’ve been deep into the story of the Arkansas Delta in the aftermath of the Civil War and the work of a group of northern Quakers from Indiana who started an orphanage for freed slaves.

I love history, so it was not a hardship to read this book. I had an added interest in the story because of Elkanah and Irena Beard. With the influx of freed slaves after the emancipation proclamation and the fall of Vicksburg, Mississippi in 1863, a Union General prevailed upon Indiana Yearly Meeting through their field agents, Elkanah and Irena Beard, to establish an orphanage near Helena, Arkansas. I currently live in Elkanah and Irena’s home. They gave it to Winchester Friends Church in 1898 and it has been a parsonage since that time. Beard’s had no children, were refugee workers with freed slaves for 6 years during and after the Civil War, then went to India on behalf of London Quakers to work and teach, before landing in Winchester, Indiana in 1874 to begin a “new” monthly meeting in the city. Since my husband and I have no children, spent a large portion of our married life overseas working with refugees, and now find ourselves living in their home as pastors of the meeting they began, I feel a kinship with their lives.

One of the reasons I love history is that I learn from history. The story of Southland encompasses 60 years, from the Civil War until the mid 1920’s. The orphanage and school transitioned into a teachers college and in later years incorporated vocational/agricultural training components. Throughout the entire time, the task of raising funds for a group of northern Quakers to help a group of needy human beings (whom endured unspeakable treatment during generations of slavery) seemed an unending and eventually, insurmountable problem. I could not help but be embarrassed for Quakers who seemed to ignore desperate appeals for financial support for this important work.

Money eventually decided the fate of Southland. Maybe it was because Quakers did not see visible results from the work in Southland or maybe it was because of difficult financial times for the country. I would hate to think that racism had a hand in why Quakers would not support this school, but I do not know. In any case, the Quaker author of the book pointed out that: “the more desperate the financial situation became, the more grandiose Quaker rescue plans became.” Sometimes it is hard to wait for funding to arrive to carry out ministry and mission. One of the many lessons the history of Southland taught me was how important it is to nurture discernment in community for financial obligations and ministries, but more importantly, to do what I can with available resources. Money should not rule passion or vision to do what is right and what serves God, but neither should vision and passion outrun commitment from the community.

I am sad the work at Southland ended but even sadder Indiana Quakers failed to nurture and maintain relationships in the Arkansas Delta. When the school closed, there was encouragement for Quakers to take “personal responsibility for promoting interracial harmony and good will”, but the current lack of African-American participation and membership among the Society of Friends suggests this may not have been successful. When the end came to Quaker involvement in the Arkansas Delta, the grandiose plans the Quakers had for improvement of the school or the beautiful buildings they built (but let deteriorate) were not what the community around Southland remembered. People remembered the northern Quakers as people who helped them “live kindly and honestly and to build a community which stands for ambition and energy and peace.”

The Quaker presence in the Arkansas Delta nurtured several Quaker monthly meetings and at times reported a membership in the Society of Friends of over 400 souls. Northern Quakers were not the only Christian influence in the Delta. Many of the ex-slaves were Christian and there were other local churches among the population in the Delta. Evangelism was present in the work of Friends, but the draw to Quaker worship and membership in monthly meetings was the visible witness of the northern Quakers. They lived out Christian principles and values of service, temperance, and spiritual equality – regardless of race or gender.

Being lost in Southland this past month renewed my commitment to make relationships a priority in my work and my life. It is too easy to lose focus when the business of mission and vision consumes time and energy. The work of listening and learning, of nurturing relationships within my faith community and between my faith community and the Living God should be my business. I believe being lost in Southland was a good way to start a new year.