Young, Rosa – Founder of Concordia College Alabama
By
John C Abercrombie
Rosa J Young is an example of what is possible if you are willing to (1) follow your dreams and (2) don’t quit. Her lifelong dream was to build a school for the education of people in Alabama and she excelled in this by starting thirty schools and twenty churches with the Lutheran church in Alabama.
She was born in Rosebud, Alabama in 1890. She excelled in academics and was fortunate to be able to attend school. At the time school went up to the sixth grade and good fortune allowed her parents to send her to Payne University. Payne had been created by the African Methodist Episcopal Church to serve the Black community. She later received her teaching certificate and passed the state exams.
The African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME) is a predominantly African American denomination founded to avoid the discrimination shown by White denominations towards Blacks.
Rosa Young taught at various Black schools across the state of Alabama as a traveling teacher. This was a frequent practice in areas that had a dearth of qualified teachers. Young returned to Rosebud in 1912 and by this time Black children were not allowed to attend public schools. Blacks and Whites encouraged her to open a school to provide basic education and religious instruction to Black children.
Young was a Lutheran and a tireless missionary and teacher and helped start 20 Lutheran Churches and 30 Lutheran schools in Alabama and was instrumental in the founding of Concordia College in Selma, Alabama.
The Rosebud Literary and Industrial School started with Rosa Young and seven students the first year and by the third year had grown to 215 students and several additional teachers. This demonstrated the desire of Blacks for an education.
During this time, there were almost no Black owned farmland. This is the result of not being able to accumulate any wealth under the system of slavery. Slavery deprived the enslaved of any wealth and the opportunity to purchase land from their long arduous lifetime of free labor and no control of their lives or destiny. While many believe that all people had the same opportunity to succeed, this was blatantly false, and the shame of the situation is that this disadvantage carries for generations.
This forced Blacks into sharecropping that always worked to the advantage of the White landowner, especially when considered in the context of not being able to take advantage of the opportunity to get an education and learn to read, write, or learn math.
The system of share cropping started with the landowner extending credit to buy groceries that were highly marked up. The Black sharecropper extended credit to the farmer to buy seed to plant and the landowner would be greatly distressed if one of the sharecroppers had the audacity to keep correct records. There was always the threat of being evicted, leaving the sharecropping family in destress.
In rural Alabama at this time, there was almost no black owned farmland. African American farmers worked plots of land owned by white landowners in exchange for a “share” of the profits. It was customary for the landowner to extend credit to the farmer and his family to buy groceries and daily necessities, in addition to seed to plant in the Spring. This would then be paid back out of his share of the crop.
In 1914 the boll weevil decimated the crop and left sharecroppers with no way to pay debts or have the luxury of sending their children to schools.
Rosa Young writes that they prayed and prayed and prayed, trying to find someone to take over the school and keep it alive. At this time, she wrote Booker T Washington for help. He had no funds to help, but advised her to contact the Lutheran Church, headquartered in St. Louis.
The Lutherans were already involved in ministry to the Black communities and had started missions and parochial schools in Arkansas, North Carolina, and Louisiana. The Lutherans were impressed with the work she had done. They agreed to take over the school and appointed Nils Bakke as supervisor. They hired Rosa Young as an adviser and teacher. The Lutherans provided financial support and furnishings and NEW boos making the school a center of quality education.
Word of the school’s success attracted other communities to inquire about starting churches and schools in their areas. She and Bakke visited the communities and helped start twenty churches and 30 Lutheran schools in Alabama.
Young also founded the Alabama Lutheran Academy, now Concordia College in Selma, Alabama to train Black missionaries and teachers. She served on the faculty from 1946 to 1961 and was awarded an honorary doctorate (LL. D) from the Concordia Seminary in Springfield, Illinois.
Concordia College Alabama was able to provide an education to students until 2018 when they graduated their last class. Other schools including those in the Concordia system were able to accept and provide opportunities to all current students.
While it is sad to see the institution end, it is with great joy that we saw the fulfilment of Rosa Young’s dream!
Sadly, Rosa Young passed in 1971 at the age of eighty-one.
While the institution is gone, the legacy is still alive, and she continues to inspire people today.
It is our desire to provide information about people, places and events that are often “overlooked” in mainstream history, such as this story. How can a person who started thirty schools and twenty churches be completely overlooked?
You have read a summary of this great woman, but to get a better understanding of her and her accomplishments, watch the videos below and for greater study, check out the recommended books. You can even sample and order them using our links.
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For Black History Month 2020, we posted daily. These posts focus on the reality of Black life in America after the Civil War culminating in the landmark Brown v Board of Education that changed so many of the earlier practices. To see the posts, click here
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We also posted a 5 part mini-series on the 100th anniversary of one of the most horrific massacres in the history of America. Hundreds of Blacks were slaughtered and 10,000 left homeless in this largely unknown event. To see the posts, click here.
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A world class collection of Black History inspired by a 5th grade teacher who told Arturo Schomburg that there was NO African history. Nothing of value. Schomburg dedicated his life to proving that teacher wrong and Schomburg did an amazing job with his collection.
Schomburg – The man who built a library
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The First Rosa
The First Rosa [OFFICIAL] Full-Length Film
The name of civil-rights champion Dr. Rosa Parks is well known to history. But there was another Rosa, “a black teacher with liberating dreams,” with an inspiring story of her own. “The First Rosa”, produced by The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, is a film that will enlighten the Church to Dr. Rosa J. Young’s remarkable history as a pioneer Lutheran educator and missionary who, alongside the Rev. Nils J. Bakke, planted dozens of historically black Lutheran schools and chapels in the American South. See the long odds they faced—struggles with strident critics, the Ku Klux Klan, even an invasion of boll weevils—before emerging with a glorious victory.
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Light in the Dark Belt
Rosa Young’s passion for education led her to influence the founding of 30 Lutheran schools, 35 Lutheran congregations, and Concordia College Alabama. An advocate for children, she touched the lives of more than 2,000 students in Alabama alone.
First published in 1930, Rosa Young s autobiography is a story of faith, courage, labor, and perseverance.
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Rosa Young: Education for African Americans in Segregated Alabama | Cody Crouch on TBN
This Month in Christian History: Host Cody Crouch takes us through the life, work, and ministry of Rosa Young. She influential in the movement to help young African Americans get an education in segregated Alabama. She was also instrumental in the spread of the Lutheran church in Alabama.
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Rosa Young (Hero of Faith)
For Younger Readers
Rosa Young s story is that of joy and hardship. Born to former slaves, Rosa Young (1890 1971) knew firsthand the struggles of civil rights. As an African American woman, few things seemed easy. Yet Rosa knew that Jesus understood her struggles, for He had known persecution and poverty too.
Jesus had given her important work to do for Him, and she set about finding a way to do it. In the poorest, rural regions of the American South, Rosa Young dedicated her life to teaching the Good News of Jesus. Many schools, congregations, and eventually a college were begun through the tireless efforts of this spiritual giant.
Young readers will enjoy learning more about Rosa s life, her work, and her passion for education. She truly was a pioneer missionary who initiated Lutheran Christian Education in Alabama.
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Rosa Young – Hero of the Faith
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The Ultimate Guide to HBCUs: Profiles, Stats, and Insights for All 101 Historically Black Colleges and Universities (2022) (College Admissions Guides)
Your all-in-one guide to the nation’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs)!
Considering attending an HBCU? Then this is the college guide for you! The Princeton Review has partnered up with Dr. Braque Talley (three-time HBCU graduate and current Vice President for Student Affairs at Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical University) to create a guide with everything you need to know about HBCUs. Find your perfect school with:
• Complete profiles of all 101 HBCUs in the country (96 undergraduate and 5 graduate HBCUs)—where they are, what they cost, who they enroll, and more
• Details of every aspect of academic, campus, and student life, including professors, dorms, cafeteria food, and social life
• Highlights of the programs, degrees, and offerings available
• Notable accomplishments of these storied institutions
• Descriptions of each campus’s cultural offerings
• Information on career opportunities and renowned alumni
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THE FIRST ROSA – Film Trailer
Coming in 2015!—a stunning documentary on Dr. Rosa J. Young, Lutheran teacher and missionary who, working alongside the Rev. Nils J. Bakke, started a spiritual revolution in the South by laying the groundwork for some 65 historically black Lutheran schools and congregations. This film will tell her remarkable story, inspire young men and women to consider church-work careers, and challenge congregations to take up Dr. Young’s mantle by establishing a new framework of Rosa J. Young academies.
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HBCU Historically Black Colleges And Universities Where Black Lives Not Only Matter They Soar: A Journal Notebook
Are you a graduate of an HBCU (Historically Black Colleges and Universities) or know someone who is? Then grab this journal notebook as a gift or for yourself. Many famous African Americans have graduated from an HBCU such as Martin Luther King Jr, Kamala Harris, Oprah Winfrey, Toni Morrison and Samuel Jackson. Show your pride in black college education with this journal which you can use to record memories, quotes, make to-do lists, plan meals, take notes and anything else. It is 6 x 9 inches with 100 blank lined pages.
The journal is also a good Black History Month celebration gift for moms, sisters, brothers, girlfriends and other alumni and supporters. Gifts for black college grads are not easy to find, so get this unique journal while you can.
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Nevertheless: The Legacy of Rosa Young at Concordia College, Alabama
Celebrate all that God has done through Concordia College Alabama, Selma, Ala. Praise Him for His grace and trust in Him for the future. Sadly, Concordia is closed. Nevertheless, we pray that God continues the work begun through the faculty, staff and students over the years. The legacy of Rosa Young to provide Christian education to young boys and girls will bear fruit in ways yet unknown. We thank God for the 96 years of education at Concordia, especially for the proclamation of the Gospel and the calling of many to faith.
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The following book is a great addition to the above and can be used to answer and further your search for ancestors that can bring pride to you. We come from strong roots, discover and take pride!
Black Roots: A Beginners Guide To Tracing The African American Family Tree
Trace, document, record, and write your family’s history with this easy-to-read, step-by-step authoritative guide.
Finally, here is the fun, easy-to-use guide that African Americans have been waiting for since Alex Haley published Roots more than twenty-five years ago. Written by the leading African American professional genealogist in the United States who teaches and lectures widely, Black Roots highlights some of the special problems, solutions, and sources unique to African Americans. Based on solid genealogical principles and designed for those who have little or no experience researching their family’s past, but valuable to any genealogist, this book explains everything you need to get started, including: where to search close to home, where to write for records, how to make the best use of libraries and the Internet, and how to organize research, analyze historical documents, and write the family history.
This guide also includes:
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-samples of all the worksheets and forms you’ll need to keep your research in order
-a list of the traps even experienced researchers often fall into that hamper their research
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Starting with a dream and a desire to establish an educational system for Blacks in Alabama, Rosa Young did just that because she refused to quit on herself and the people she sought to serve. She was instrumental in the formation of Concordia College Alabama which graduated 92 classes of people who followed her example. Rather than questioning what one person can do, find one to emulate and just do it!