Tuscaloosa County AlArchives Biographies.....Barnes, Benjamin H. 
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Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 September 15, 2008, 6:57 pm

Author: Clement Richardson, Editor

BENJAMIN H. BARNES

  FOR fully a score of years Booker T. Washington thundered from the Tuskegee
Institute platform the doctrine of service. "Go back to your homes, put a hinge
on the gate, a latch on the door. Don t stand around and whine. Get into the
church, in the school, into the shop and help. Own your own homes and become a
tax-paying, respectable citizen."

  Benjamin H. Barnes after graduating under his father's teaching, sat beneath
the voice of the Tuskegean and caught the vision that the great leader sought to
impart. He did not pick out any one of of these suggestions but seemed to absorb
them all. While at Tuskegee Mr. Barnes excelled not only in his studies both in
trade and in books but also in music. He played the violin, the piano and sang.
For part of three years he traveled as a Tuskegee singer. Returning to
Tuscaloosa his native town, he accepted work as a teacher in the city public
school and began to live to the full the life that .Booker T. Washington had so
ardently preached. Mr. Barnes immediately connected himself with the work of the
town church, the First African Baptist Church. He had been in attendance here
but a short time when he was elected superintendent of the Sunday School, a post
at which he served for twenty-five years. Not long after this Mr. Barnes was
made church organist; and for twenty years the Baptists of Tuscaloosa have sung
to his playing in the church.

  Some years ago this church set out to erect a new building. The cost of the
house was to be $25,000.00. Mr. Barnes along with his church and Sunday School
work had demonstrated that he was a business man. The church members placed him
at the head of the Committee, rallied to his support and put up a splendid brick
structure. Tho' ministers came and went, Barnes stayed by his post till the last
brick was laid. He is now financial secretary of the church, secretary of the
board of trustees and one of the strong active deacons.

  However, his biggest service as a Christian worker is being rendered among the
young people of the state. Alabama is peppered with Negro Baptists. Blow your
Baptist trumpet in the remotest hamlet and a regiment of loyal followers will
come forward to bear up the standard. Among their organization is a Baptist
Young People's Union. Mr. Barnes has been the president of this organization for
sixteen years. In recognition of his religious services and of his exemplary
scholarship, Selma University some years ago conferred upon him the honorary
degree of Master of Arts.

  All through his life Mr. Barnes has been a very intense student, both in books
and in affairs. He spends many hours in home study, in a very exceptional home
library. From time to time he has taken home correspondence courses from the
University of Chicago. In addition to this he keeps thoroughly abreast with all
educational movements in the state. No convention or gathering of educators in
the state is likely to assemble without finding Benjamin H. Barnes on hand ready
to give advice, time or money to make things go.

   The home of Benjamin H. Barnes, all paid for, is one of the most handsome of
the half dozen excellent Negro homes of Tuscaloosa. As one purchase whets the
appetite for another Mr. Barnes after paying for his home, bought other
buildings and now owns property to rent.

  This is not the full business story of Prof. Barnes. The Union Central Life
Relief company of Birmingham is one of the comparatively few Negro firms of the
kind to stem the tide of business adversity. Casting about for a manager of a
branch office in Tuscaloosa, the Union Central Relief found the man they wanted
in Prof. Barnes. In this office and in visiting patrons Mr. Barnes spends his
summer and spare hours when not on duty in the school.

  One dominant trait is unmistakable in the Barnes family, that of holding fast
to the duties in hand— a father, school teacher in one place forty-two years: a
son, school teacher for nearly twenty years, Sunday School superintendent
twenty-five years, president of Young People's Baptist Union sixteen years.

  Mr. Barnes is married; his wife is his partner. She has rendered valuable
service in all of his endeavors. They have celebrated their crystal wedding with
much pomp.


Additional Comments:

Extracted from:

The National Cyclopedia of The Colored Race

Editor-in-Chief

CLEMENT RICHARDSON
President of Lincoln Institute
Jefferson City, Mo.

ASSOCIATE EDITORS
Dr. C. V. ROMAN,
Nashville, Tenn.
Professor of Meharry Medical College.

W. T. B. WILLIAMS, Hampton Institute, Va.
Field Agent of the Jeannes and Slater Funds.

H. M. MINTON, M. D., Philadelphia, Pa.
Board of Directors Mercy Hospital.

SILAS X. FLOYD, Augusta, Ga.
Principal of City Schools.

DR. R. E. JONES, New Orleans, La.
Editor of South Western Christian Advocate.

DR. A. F. OWENS, Selma, Ala.
Dean of Theological Dept. Selma university.

FRED MOORE, New York City.
Editor New York Age.

ADVISORY BOARD

EMMETT J. SCOTT, Chairman,
Secretary of Tuskegee Institute, Tuskegee Institute, Ala.

N. B. YOUNG, Tallahassee, Fla.
President of A. and M. College.

DR. J. W. E. BOWEN, Atlanta, Ga.
Dean of Gammon Theological Seminary.

J. R. E. LEE, Kansas City, Mo.
Principal of Lincoln High School.

J. S. CLARK, Baton Route, La.
President of Southern University.

DR. M. W. DOGAN, Marshall, Texas.
President of Wiley University.

Volume One
NATIONAL PUBLISHING COMPANY, Inc.
PUBLISHERS
MONTGOMERY, ALABAMA
1919

COPYRIGHT 1919
NATIONAL PUBLISHING CO., Inc.
MONTGOMERY, ALA.


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