Southland Institute

Southland Institute was a school for African Americans run by the Five Years Meeting Home Mission Board at Southland (near Helena, Arkansas). The school began during the Civil War, when the Governor of Indiana asked Indiana Quakers if they would help the large number of African Americans refugees following in the wake of Grant's campaign through the Mississippi Valley. In 1923 the school faced a serious financial crisis and Wood was appealed to for help in raising money. Wood used his connections with the General Education Board to secure a grant from them, which is later withdrawn. In 1925 Friends decided to close the school.

Chiefly correspondence of Wood related to efforts of Five Years Meeting of Friends Board of Home Missions to keep Southland Institute open. Part of fund­raising plan is an appeal to Young Friends. In addition to fund­raising concerns, letters also touch on what Wood calls Friends' "spiritual default in this question of race." Gilbert Bowles' essay discusses some things Friends can do after the close of Southland.