Congo Missionaries and the Perpetuation of Manual Labor, 1908–1936

Chapter 2 analyzes the effect of globalized industrial education strategies on the career prospects of African American missionaries. It identifies the restrictive policies applied to students and graduates from the three institutions that the Edmistons were affiliated with: Fisk University, Stillman Institute, and Tuskegee Institute. The chapter explains how the couple tried to adjust to new work expectations without either reducing their ministries to manual labor alone or falling victim to undisclosed moratoriums on African American international travel. It also shows how increased colonial demands for African laborers increased the pressure for African Americans to design a just alternative within the setting of the mission stations.