American Church Institute

Resolution approved by General Convention outlining continuing financial support to the three historically Black Episcopal Colleges, 1976.

ACIN leadership positions were filled by white churchmen, the longest-serving of whom was Rev. Dr. Robert W. Patton, initially appointed as Special Representative in 1914, but served as its first director from 1919 to 1940 and again as acting director from 1942-1944. ACIN later elected African American officers, most notably, the Rev. Dr. Tollie L. Caution, who served as assistant director from 1955-1957 and as secretary from 1957-1967.

ACIN made it a practice to give support to only one school in any state, although exceptions were made for Virginia and North Carolina,where ACIN supported Bishop Payne Divinity School in Petersburg, VA, and St. Agnes' Nursing School and Hospital in Raleigh, NC. Six other southern states were homes to ACIN schools (Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, Louisiana, Tennessee, and South Carolina), and St. Philip's School in San Antonio, Texas received funds from ACIN but was never officially brought under its oversight. The eligibility criteria for a school to qualify for ACIN support included that the school be located in the area of greatest concentration of African Americans in its state and that it receive financial support from all of the dioceses in its state. [Sources]